What's Happening in The USA?

What's Happening in The USA

World Symposium for Developing Future Game-Centered Approach

From USA, two faculty members from Bridgewater State University, Dr. Karen Richardson and Dr. Deborah Sheehy, as well as Dr. Heidi Bohler, from Westfield State University, were three of six main contributors at the World Symposium for Developing Future Game-Centered Approach, in September. Many TGfU professionals around the world gathered at the virtual event. There were about 80 participants from 5 continents. It was a great professional development opportunity as well as a networking opportunity. The event detail was also introduced on the TGfU website. Dr. Richardson, Dr. Sheehy, and Dr. Bohler have been positive examples of TGfU advocates around the region as well as at the national level.

Introducing U.S. Soccer Coach Education’s Play-Practice-Play Coaching Model

Game-based approach in coaching soccer will be published in Strategies, January/February 2021 issue, as “Introducing U.S. Soccer Coach Education’s Play-Practice-Play Coaching Model” by Dr. Stuart Currie, Dr. Ajit Korgaokar, Zac Crawford, and Barry Pauwels. When I attended one of the coach education courses with U.S. Soccer, the concept of “learning the game of soccer in games” was clearly emphasized, just like TGfU and other game-based approaches have been proved to be effective in coaching invasion games like soccer. It is great to see the collaboration between the TGfU researchers and the coach educators in the fields.

Experimenting Virtual Reality Learning in Game-based Approach

Professor Naoki Suzuki from Japan and I have been brainstorming about potential use of VR learning in physical education, adapted physical education, and coaching. We will start with a pilot project on tour guiding in the U.S. and Japan in January. Based on the findings from the project (i.e., what worked and what not), we plan to implement VR learning in the game-based approach in Physical Education and Coaching.